Metra Seeks To Remedy On-Time Performance Slip
On-time performance at Metra has slipped last year, and the commuter rail agency's chairman, chief executive officer and board want something done about it.
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On-time performance at Metra has slipped last year, and the commuter rail agency's chairman, chief executive officer and board want something done about it.
The Metra board has approved the largest fare increase in the agency's history.
Metra Thursday night wrapped up eight public hearings in two days on the largest fare increase in the agency's history.
Riders told Metra's chief executive officer at a public hearing in Homewood on Wednesday that the fare increases the agency has proposed are too much.
In a letter to Metra riders, the agency's CEO on Friday called proposed fare increases "jolting" but necessary due to rising costs, lower income and inaction by the previous Metra administration.
Illinois' U.S. Senators have written Metra CEO Alex Clifford, demanding justification for fare hikes that could top 30 percent.
The Metra board Friday ruled out service cuts to close a 2012 budget shortfall estimated at more than $64 million, but higher ticket prices seem inevitable.
Get ready, Metra riders. The cash-strapped rail agency is finalizing plans for rate hikes that could reach as high as 25 , with a formal vote by Metra's board on Friday.
The commuter rail agency's new CEO, Alex Clifford, said Friday that rising diesel fuel prices and the state of Illinois' continuing inability to pay subsidies may leave Metra with a $100 million 2011 budget shortfall.
Metra CEO Alex Clifford is weighing a plan to cut service and raise fares as early as July, to offset recent high fuel costs. Newsradio 780's Bob Roberts reports.
After less than a month on the job, Metra's new executive director Friday laid out an action plan to make changes and root out fraud at the commuter rail agency.
Two newly-completed reports to Metra's board of directors concluded that the commuter rail agency's late executive director was secretive, managed in an inconsistent style, used his authority to circumvent controls and benefit himself and chosen subordinates -- but was an autocratic lone wolf.
